TY - JOUR
T1 - Teotamachilizti: an analysis of the language in a Nahua sermon from colonial Guatemala
AU - Madajczak, Julia
AU - Pharao Hansen, Magnus
PY - 2016/4/2
Y1 - 2016/4/2
N2 - A seventeenth-century sermon, Teotamachilizti in yiuliliz auh in ymiquiliz Tutemaquizticatzim Iesu Christo, written in Guatemala in a Nahua language, is reviewed. The dialectological analysis of the Teotamachilizti reveals that, contrary to the claims of previous researchers, the majority of its linguistic traits can be identified with the Central Mexican variety of Nahuatl. At the same time, the language of the text includes unevenly distributed and inconsistently used Eastern, or specifically Pipil, traits. The complementary study of contact phenomena has demonstrated a major influence of Spanish, consisting not only of loanwords, but also loan translations, loan renditions and complex lexico-syntactic calques. As linguistic testimony, the Teotamachilizti clearly demonstrates that language is a process, usually subject to complex historical and social circumstances. When dealing with ethnohistorical sources, classifications of languages and variants developed within modern linguistics may prove insufficient for describing the reality of the colonial period. Teotamachilizti conveys an image of the challenges faced by ecclesiastics, who were trained in one language which was assumed to hold communicative currency throughout New Spain, but who were frequently sent to work in contexts characterized by extreme degrees of linguistic diversity.
AB - A seventeenth-century sermon, Teotamachilizti in yiuliliz auh in ymiquiliz Tutemaquizticatzim Iesu Christo, written in Guatemala in a Nahua language, is reviewed. The dialectological analysis of the Teotamachilizti reveals that, contrary to the claims of previous researchers, the majority of its linguistic traits can be identified with the Central Mexican variety of Nahuatl. At the same time, the language of the text includes unevenly distributed and inconsistently used Eastern, or specifically Pipil, traits. The complementary study of contact phenomena has demonstrated a major influence of Spanish, consisting not only of loanwords, but also loan translations, loan renditions and complex lexico-syntactic calques. As linguistic testimony, the Teotamachilizti clearly demonstrates that language is a process, usually subject to complex historical and social circumstances. When dealing with ethnohistorical sources, classifications of languages and variants developed within modern linguistics may prove insufficient for describing the reality of the colonial period. Teotamachilizti conveys an image of the challenges faced by ecclesiastics, who were trained in one language which was assumed to hold communicative currency throughout New Spain, but who were frequently sent to work in contexts characterized by extreme degrees of linguistic diversity.
U2 - 10.1080/10609164.2016.1205254
DO - 10.1080/10609164.2016.1205254
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1060-9164
SP - 220
EP - 244
JO - Colonial Latin American Review
JF - Colonial Latin American Review
ER -